The Rhein Fire were an American Football team from Dusseldorf, Germany that competed for 13 seasons in the NFL-sponsored World League / NFL Europe between 1995 and that league’s demise in 2007. The Fire appeared in five World Bowls, winning twice, and helped launch the NFL careers of overlooked players such as linebacker James Harrison and running back Fred Jackson.
This well-travelled independent pro baseball team played in a succession of indy leagues of decreasingly poorer quality from 2005 through 2011. The Vipers were always great on the field, posting only one losing season in their history and appearing in three consecutive league championship series 2007 and 2009. Calgary was the champion of the Golden Baseball League in 2009. But the team never developed a strong following at Foothills Stadium. The team finally folded after the 2011 season, done in by anemic local support and the serious illness of long-time owner Jeff Gidney, who would ultimately pass away the following year.
The Skeeters were a popular independent baseball team that parlayed their location 20 minutes southwest of Houston, box office appeal and clean, modern ballpark into an unlikely promotion to Triple-A affiliated baseball in 2021. The team began play in April 2012 as an expansion team in the Atlantic League, an indy circuit whose other seven members were all located in the northeastern U.S. and the mid-Atlantic region. During their indy days, the Skeeters ginned up headlines by signing retired Major League and NBA superstars Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Tracy McGrady to play for the club in cameo appearances. The Skeeters got serious after the Houston Astros purchased the club in 2021 and made the team its top farm club as the Class AAA level. After one Triple-A season as the Skeeters in 2021, the team re-branded as the Sugar Land Space Cowboys in January 2022.
California League (1965) Born: November 1964 – Affiliate change from Salinas Mets Folded: September 1965 First Game: April 18, 1965 (L 8-4 vs. Bakersfield Bears) Last
The Denver Invaders were an outstanding minor league hockey club that played one season in the Western Hockey League (WHL) during the winter of 1963-64. The Invaders relocated to Denver from Spokane, Washington the previous spring and served as a farm club of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Under head coach Rudy Pilous, the team was terrific on the ice, dominating the WHL with a 44-23-3 regular season record. But lackluster attendance at the Denver Coliseum and disputes between local investors and the Maple Leafs led the franchise to leave Colorado for British Columbia after only a year.
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